The UK has deployed surveillance aircraft and auxiliary Navy ships to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Friday.
It comes as the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by attacks launched by the Hamas, entered the seventh day.
P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance and patrol aircrafts have already been deployed. They were to begin patrolling the region from Friday to monitor “threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups,” the statement said.
A Royal Navy task group will also be on standby next week in the eastern Mediterranean to help with humanitarian efforts.
The group consists of auxiliary landing ships RFA Lyme Bay and RFA Argus. The latter has been primarily used as a floating medical facility with a 100-bed medical complex on board.
The package also includes three merlin helicopters and a company of Royal Marines. They will be on standby to “deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region, and offer deterrence and assurance,” the government said.
The prime minister has also asked all British military teams in Israel, Cyprus, and across the region to get ready to “support contingency planning and the efforts of neighbouring countries to deal with any spillover from instability in Israel.”
“We must be unequivocal in making sure the types of horrific scenes we have seen this week will not be repeated. Alongside our allies, the deployment of our world class military will support efforts to ensure regional stability and prevent further escalation,” Mr. Sunak said in a statement.
“Our military and diplomatic teams across the region will also support international partners to reestablish security and ensure humanitarian aid reaches the thousands of innocent victims of this barbaric attack from Hamas terrorists,” he added.
On Friday, the prime minister also spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to understand the situation in the wider region and to stress the importance of supporting civilians to leave Gaza, No. 10 said.
Attending a UK-led northern European defence alliance summit in Sweden on Friday, Mr. Sunak said terrorism “must not prevail” in Israel or Ukraine.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK’s military support package “will be an undeniable display of the UK’s resolve to ensure Hamas’s terrorist campaign fails, whilst reminding those who seek to inflame tensions that the forces of freedom stand with the Israeli people.”
“The monstrous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas in recent days have proven why the UK must support Israel’s absolute right to self-defence and deter malign external interference. No nation should stand alone in the face of such evil and today’s deployment will ensure Israel does not,” he said.
Hamas launched unprovoked missile attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, seized Israeli villages, and murdered and raped civilians.
